Machine for cleaning bottles.



W. RUPRIGH. MACHINE FOR CLEANING BOTTLES.

A PPLIOATION FILED PEB. 3, 1912.

1,100,200. Patented June 16, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

1' COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH.C0.. WASHINGTON, D. C.

W. RPRICH. MACHINE FOR CLEANING BOTTLES. APPLICATION FILED IEB.3, 1912.

1,100,200, Patented June 16, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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' W. RPRICH.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING BOTTLES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3,1912.

1,1 00,200, Patented June 16, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

W. RPRIGH. MACHINE FOR CLEANING BOTTLES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3, 1912.

1,100,200, Patented June 16,1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

WrrNEssEs INVENTqRt m75/ zL/ofz'C/v/ MMM v 9)" cOLuMExA PLANOURAPH Cc.,w^sHxNGToN. D. c.

WILLY RPRICH, or DORTMUND, GERMANY.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING BOTTLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 16, 1914.

Application filed February 3, 1912. Serial No. 675,275.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, VILLY RPRICH, a subject of the King of Prussia, residing at Dortmund, in the Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire, have invented a new and useful Improved Machine for Cleaning Bot-` tles, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a machine for cleaning bottles of the kind in which said bottles are conducted through several troughs arranged beside each other. As an improvement over the prior art, the present invention provides in said troughs several washing drums having a number of com* partments on the outer circumference to take up one or more bottles, which are intermittently fed to said drums, with the assistance of a drum or wheel provided outside the troughs.

On the accompanying drawing representing the invention: Figure 1 shows a side elevation of the machine as seen from the side of delivery, Fig. 2, a plan, Fig. 3, a vertical section on the line A-B of Fig. 2, Fig. 4, a side elevation of the mechanism used to move the bottles (transporting mechanism) in another position, Fig. 5, a plan of the crank for operating the transporting mechanism, Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9 show the movement of the bottles from the feed drum through the washing drums to the point of delivery at the commencement of a complete revolution. Fig. 10 is a vertical section taken longitudinally through the drum axis.

In the troughs 1, 2, 3, which are formed by partitions (Fig. 2), rotate the drums 8, 9 and 10 which are secured on a slowly rotating shaft 4 and are provided with a num ber of compartments Q/ at the circumference, as shown in Fig. 3. In the example chosen, the radial partition walls of the compartments 5, 6, 7, serving to take up the bottles, are provided with ribs 11, 12, 13 of which the ribs 11 support the necks of the inverted bottles when they are moved through the troughs. The ribs 13 serve to prevent the bottom ends of the bottles from rubbing against the side walls of the troughs. The bottles are brought sidewise into the compartments of the drums 8, 9, 10 in the direction of the drums 10, 9, 8 by the feed drum 14 and transport arms 15, 16, 17, 18. The feed drum 14, which is also secured on the shaft 4, is provided with compartments 19 corresponding in number with the comparthead.

ments y of the drums 8, 9, 10, but said com partments 19 are somewhat deeper than 5, 6, 7 and are not closed at the circumference. The compartments of the feed wheel 14 are filled with the bottles at M, and the speed of the drum is so regulated that a workman can put in about 3,000 bottles in an hour. In the example chosen it is assumed that there are 50 compartments at the circumference of each drum and that such compartments have a width sufficient to enable six bottles to lie beside each other. The problem of intermittently bringing these groups of six bottles al, a2, a3, lying loosely beside each other, out of the compartments y of the drums 10, 9, 8 is solved as follows: At the point N, which, in the direction of rotation of the drums, lies behind the highest point of the circular path described, in order that the bottles can be drained out as long as possible, the wall 3 of the trough is provided with an opening which extends across the top of the machine asslot 32 (Fig. 2), and terminates on the opposite side in an opening in the side wall of the trough 1. Through this opening the groups of bottles al, a2, a3, etc., pass out to the point of delivery l?. In order to move the groups of bottles it is necessary for the arms 15, 16, 17, 18 to engage behind said groups and to retreat from said bottles before the arms go back into their first position. For this purpose is provided a cross head 23, which is moved through a distance corresponding to the width of one of the troughs by the crank 21 and the forked connecting rod 20. The cross head 23 is guided not only on the rods 24 and 25, but also on the rod 26, a sleeve 27 being provided for this purpose, which is arranged between the two sleeves, 28, 29 on the rod 26. Also on rod 26 is secured a sleeve or bearing 47, which together with sleeve 29, carries the arms 34, 35 which, with the carrier rod 30 constitute a frame upon which are formed or mounted the carriers 15, 16, 17 and 18. Said arms are thus operated by the cross Before commencing the backward movement these arms must however be raised so as to come out of engagement with the bottles or their compartments (Fig. 3). For this purpose the crank 21 is constructed as a cam, whose slope 31 strikes, during each revolution, against an arm 33 secured at the end of the rod 26. The rod 26 is accordingly rotated and at the same time the arms 34, 35 carrying the rod 30, are also moved.

During this movement the rod is not to be moved sidewise, for which reason the crank is provided with an arrangement, which, at the bottom dead point of the cross head, keeps the cross head stationary for a time. This arrangement consists of a guide piece 45 provided n the machine frame over the crank disk, at the circumference of which guide piece the crank pin, adapted by means of a block 46 to slide in a slot of the crank disk, is guided (Fig. 5). On account of the perpendicular line movement of the arms 15, 16, 17, 18 inside the compartments 19 and 3/ the arms 34, 35 are provided with slots. The perpendicular line movement of the arms takes place in the guide holes 36 of a rail 37 cast on the cross head. This rail also takes up the pressure exerted on the arms 15, 16, 17, 18. At the point of delivery P the group of bottles moved out of a compartment in thedrum 8 is received in a compartment 41 adapted to turn on the pin 40 (Fig. 1). On said pin 40 is secured a spur-wheel 42, which engages in an internally toothed rack 43 secured to the rod 26 said rack being thus moved downward together with the rod 26 to such an extent that the bottles fall with their vbottom ends foremost out of the open compartment 41 into the groove 44.

The operation of the machine is as follows: While the machine is slowly rotating a workman fills the feed drum 14 with groups of bottles al, a2, a3, etc. As soon as the first group of bottles al arrives at the point at which they are to be transferred to the drum 10 they are moved by the arm 15 into the compartment 7 of said drum (Fig. 6, commencement of the first complete revotion). During the return movement of the arms 1518 the feed and washing drums are turned through the space between two compartments so that now the group of bottles a2 is in position to be moved into the next compartment of the drum 10. As soon as all the 50 compartments of the drum 10 have been filled, that is, at the commencement of the second complete revolution (Fig. 7), the group of bottles a is moved from the feed drum into the drum 10, and in doing so the group al, which is in a line with the group @51, is likewise advanced and passes into a compartment of the adjacent drum 9. This operation is repeated for the other groups a2, a3, etc., until the second drum 9 is full. In Fig. 8 the condition of the drums at the commencement of the third complete revolution is shown, group al being advanced into drum 8 and groups a2 and L52 being in position to be advanced by group am into said drum 8. At the beginning of the fourth revolution the first group of bottles al passes at the point of delivery P into the compartment 41 where it is turned in the manner described and let out of the machine, while Vgroups w51, am, and am are again passed through the troughs for further washing.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A bottle cleaning machine, comprising in combination, a plurality of troughs disposed longitudinally adjacent to one another, a drum mounted in each trough and rotatable by a common shaft, an external feed drum mounted to rotate with said first mentioned drums, radial partitions circumferentially carried by all of said drums and forming` an equal number of compartments on each drum, the compartments of the several drums registering transversely of the machine, a feed way across the machine from said feed drum, and reciprocating means for feeding bottles from drum to drum in groups.

2. A bottle cleaning machine, comprising in combination, several troughs disposed adjacent to each other, a drum in each of said troughs, a common shaft carrying said drums, a feed drum outside said troughs and secured on said shaft, an equal number of compartments at the circumference of each of said drums, transporting mechanism adapted to move backward and forward across said compartments, said transporting mechanism comprisinfr in combination a crank disk adapted to Tie rotated, a connecting rod adapted to be moved by said crank disk, a cross head adapted to be moved by said connecting rod, and transport arms connected with said cross head, substantially as, and for the purpose, set forth.

3. A bottle cleaning machine, comprising in combination, several troughs disposed adjacent to each other, a drum in each of said troughs, a common shaft carrying said drums, a feed drum outside said troughs and secured on said shaft, an equal number of compartments at the circumference of each of said drums, transporting` mechanism adapted to move backward and forward across said compartments, said transporting mechanism comprising in combination a crank disk adapted to be rotated, a connecting rod adapted to be moved by said crank disk, a cross head adapted to be moved by said connecting rod, transport arms connected with said cross head, and a cam disk adapted to rotate with said crank disk and to periodically move said transporting mechanism away from said compartments, substantially as, and for the purpose, set forth.

4. A bottle cleaning machine, comprising in combination, an inclosing means, a plurality of drums simultaneously rotatable in said inclosing means, a feed drum rotatable with said plurality of drums, circumferential compartments on said drums which register transversely of the machine, a feed-way across said machine at its highest point, and reciprocating feed mechanism operative through said feed-Way to move bottles in groups successively from drum to drum.

5. A bottle cleaning machine, comprising in combination, a plurality of troughs disposed adjacent to each other, a drum in each of said troughs, a common shaft adapted to rotate all of said drums simultaneously, a feed-drum outside of said troughs and also rotatable With said shaft, an equal number of circumferential compartments on each drum which register transversely of the ma chine, and a feed mechanism adapted to ll all of the compartments in the first drum from said feed drum during the first revolution, and then, t0 feed bottles to each succeeding drum from the preceding drum during each successive revolution.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

WILLY RUPRICH.

Witnesses Louis VANDORY, THERESE THRANBEREND.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

